


My Beautiful Day

by Bmarvels



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-10-07 10:36:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17364419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bmarvels/pseuds/Bmarvels
Summary: A hard working lawyer starts receiving flowers and anonymous gifts. She doesn't know who is sending them, but the gifts begin to get stranger and more bizarre.





	My Beautiful Day

**Author's Note:**

> One of a few random short stories I wrote MANY years ago. Figured I'd finally start saving them digitally and now post them here- getting on that bandwagon, haha!

“Hey, Nat, welcome home. Some flowers arrived for you while you were at work.” Celeste greets her roommate Natalia. “There’s a card but no name.”

“Did a little snooping while you were waiting, did you?” Natalia teases making her way to the bouquet of flowers. She notices the bundle containing all of her favorite flowers: red tulips, tiger lillies, and even a mixture of red and white roses. It made an odd combination together, but they were beautiful nonetheless. “They are beautiful, but I don’t see a card.”

Natalia looks over at her friend who was leaning against the counter and eating a bowl of cereal- her normal routine before leaving for her night shift at work. Upon hearing Nat’s comment, Celeste holds up the missing card in her hand while balancing her bowl in the other.

"Give me that,” Nat demands with a roll of her eyes, snatching the card out of the prying woman’s hand. “I take it you’ve already read it?” Her roommate simply shrugs as she finishes off the last bits of her cereal. Natalia shifts her focus back to the card. Opening the envelope, a simple store bought card rests within but inside the card, a thin folded piece of paper was tucked inside. Setting the card aside, Nat unfolds the thin paper revealing beautiful, cursive writing forming a sort of poem.

 

_Dearest Natalie,_

_Your hair cascades in a waterfall of autumn,_

_Your eyes are sincere yet solemn_

_Mine have been captured at first sight_

_By your smile shining bright_

_Since then, you’ve ensnared my heart_

_Now, no longer able to wait for our bond to start_

_Ma belle du jour,_

_I am forever yours._

_~ An Anonymous Admirer_

 

“Someone’s got a secret admirer,” Celeste sings with a wink to her friend as she washes her dirty dishes.

“Yeah, well, we’ll see. Maybe he’s been watching both of us and you’re next.” Natalia counters bumping her friend with her hip.

“Not likely. This one is all you, babe.” Celeste replies confidently as she gathers her work clothes together to put in her duffel. “I’m heading out so don’t go inviting strangers in the house while I’m gone. I’m not fond of the idea of calling a search party for you as soon as I get home ‘cuz you decided to get yourself kidnapped, or worse. A girl needs her sleep you know.”

Nat couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “Yes, mom. I’ll be sure to lock up once you leave.” She says as she follows Celeste to the door. “Be careful around those machines, and more importantly the men.”

Celeste turns around with a raised, flexed arm to show off the toned muscles she’s acquired from years of heavy lifting and working with heavy machines. “There isn’t a single guy there who dares to try to handle this macho lady. Now, don’t stay up too late. Save your work for in the morning at the office.”

They bid their goodbyes and Natalia locked the door. She still has some paperwork she needed to finish for work, then some chores that Celeste didn’t get to finish.Once all was done, the clock on the wall showed the late hour Nat would be crawling into bed. With a heavy sigh and a yawn to follow, she tidies her work in a pile to be ready for her in the morning then heads to ready herself for bed.

 

The next morning, Natalia wakes up to a snoring Celeste from the room next to hers. She gets up with a stretch and heads to their shared bathroom seeing the opened door to Celeste’s room. _It must have been a long night for her to go straight to bed after coming home_ , she thinks to herself. Seeing the everything in the bathroom untouched from when she got ready for bed confirmed that Celeste did indeed go straight to bed after work. Nat continues to get ready for her day, writes a note to Celeste to remind her of already made food in the fridge for her, then heads on to work.

As she enters her office, Natalia finds on her a desk a small box with a note attached to it. She crosses the room, sets the materials she was carrying down next to the box, and picks up the note to read it. It was the same scrawling as the note with the flowers from the previous night.

 

_Dearest Natalia,_

_With a mind as great and brilliant as yours,_

_it pains me to see you are never_ _rewarded with the break you deserve._

_Enjoy some delectable and delightful treats f_ _or a delight such as yourself._

_Would you accept this offering from someone like_ _me, ma belle du jour?_

_~ Your Anonymous Admirer_

 

Natalia sets the note down and opens the small packages box. Inside contained high-end chocolate delicacies placed on top of a bed of fresh rose petals. She inspects the outside of the box for a postage or an address but finds neither, which means it was hand delivered. She sets the box back down on the desk, walks to her office door and cracks it open. Leaning through the cracked door, she calls out to her associate at the front desk.

“Hey, Liz! Do you have a moment?”

The short woman turns in her chair peering over her glasses. “What is it?”

“Did you deliver this package to my office or did you see someone come by to drop it off?”

With a purse of her lips and a thoughtful look recalling her morning, the receptionist replies, “Sorry, nothing like that has happened this morning.”

“What about after I left last night?”

“You were the last one out as always and I locked up right behind you. No one has been in since I got in this morning. Everything okay?”

“I wonder,” Natalia hums to herself. “Thanks, just let me know if anything comes in for me today.”

“Don’t I always?” The woman says with a sassy smirk.

Smiling to her co-worker, Natalia retreats back into her office. Walking to her desk to get ready for the day ahead, she puts the box under her desk and organizes the papers in front of her. It was going to be a busy day for her with appointments lined up, paperwork needing signed, and the normal day-to-day traffic of people coming in and out of her office to finish up their daily tasks. By the time work came to a close, the sun was already gone leaving just the lamplight at Natalia’s desk to illuminate the papers before her. Finally, she packs everything up including the box from that morning, turns off the lamp, and heads on out to lock up.

 

Driving home, Natalia set the box of chocolates in the passenger seat for her to take one out to try.

“Wow,” she says aloud after taking a bite. “These are really good. Tes is going to love ‘em.”

She gets home carrying her large load through the door and greets Celeste. To her surprise, Celeste looks back at her with an unsettling look and not her typical greeting. “You need to see this,” her roommate says, her face etched with concern.

“What is it?” Natalia asks setting her load down on the small table. She picks up the box of chocolates and holds it toward her friend. “Chocolate? They’re actually really good. I had one on my way home.”

“I guess that’s gift number two, then. Well, you have another one. It was in the mail today in this manila envelope.” Celeste holds it up showing Nat and then dumps its contents onto the little space left on their table  revealing multiple photographs of Natalia in numerous settings along with a folded note just like from the gifts before.

 

_Dearest Natalia,_

_I want to share with you some of my most prized moments of my times spent watching you. You sitting at your desk at work with a cup of your favorite tea in hand overlooking papers just before a meeting._

_Then, there’s one of you at the cafe by your work getting a muffin pastry- usually blueberry or chocolate chip for your sweet tooth._

_You working late at night while home alone before getting ready for bed and even the one with you outside the supermarket._

_Each and every time, you hold yourself with such grace with a look so decisive and focused in everything you do yet I still see the soft features beneath with your small smile and natural beauty that shines through._

_I wish to formally introduce myself to you, ma belle du jour. Will you comply?_

_~ Your Anonymous Admirer_

 

“Some of these pictures are from weeks ago,” Natalia notices studying the photos laid before her, “but these gifts only start last night. How long do you think this has been going on for?”

Without looking up from the pictures of her friend, Celeste answers somberly, “I don’t know Nat. There’s no telling.”

 

The next few days, the gifts and notes kept appearing on routine, some becoming repetitive. Then, the notes became written with more hostile tones and the gifts became less than flattering. Some of the more recent gifts included a box of rotten roses filled with maggots, more personable photographs of Natalia with a variety of markings on them, all with notes now holding threats against her. Much to their relief, as little as they could manage to feel, none of the threats have panned through but the threats still came on repeat. It made them both feel wary everywhere they want, even more so for Celeste who has always been over-protective yet now felt helpless.

“Alright, I’m heading to work now.” Celeste announces one evening hoisting her bag over her shoulder. “You gonna be okay? I know a lot has been going on, the police haven’t been able to track your freaky admirer since a single fingerprint hasn’t been found on anything . Since nothing serious has been attempted, they won’t be stationed outside anymore. Just be sure to not be caught off guard, you never know with these things.”

“I know, Tes. And honestly, I’m fine. It’s probably someone who gets a kick out of scaring people. I’m more worried about you, though. You’ve hardly slept lately and I’m worried about you going to work in the state you’re in.” Natalia replies.

“I just haven’t slept well lately but I’ll be fine.” And as routine, they bid goodbye but with more concern for each other than usual.

 

A few hours later, Natalia hears a knock at the door. Peering through the bedroom window, Natalia sees a familiar face standing outside their home. She makes her way through the house, unlocks the door, and opens it to reveal a man standing there. They greet each other with a smile with familiarity as Natalia inquires, “What brings you here? Tes has already left for work.”

“Yeah, I know. I passed by her at work actually,” the man replies. “Apparently they changed my schedule so I have the night off. Tes told me about what’s been going on, though. She’s really worried about you and asked me to keep you company so you both feel more at ease and a bit more secure.”

“That’s really sweet of you, but it’s not necessary. I wouldn’t want to take you away from enjoying a night off, much less get you involved with any of this. Tes will always worry.”

“It really isn’t a problem. It’s been a while since we’ve had a chance to catch up so I want to be here,” he says with a smile.

Natalia sighs in compliance and opens the door further inviting him in. “Well, come on in, then.” As he crosses the threshold, something in Natalia’s eyes changes as she says under her breath, “but you can’t have ma belle du jour,” and with a smile, she closes the door.


End file.
